


Breathing Room

by queen_scribbles



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-10 03:23:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15940790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: Five years is plenty of time to pick up new skills





	Breathing Room

**Author's Note:**

> For Prompt Fill #54: Versatility. Wound up playing a little loose with this one because Tavi is Tavi and things went a different direction than I expected. Deadfire but no spoilers

 

This was not going as planned.

Of course, Tavi conceded with grim amusement, this _was_ her under consideration; ‘not going as planned’ was to be expected. Still she’d appreciate it if just _once_ a fight could stay with the odds it looked at first glance. No reinforcements running in from side chambers, or jumping down from higher cliffs, or rising out of the damn _fucking_ ground. Neketaka’s old city was apparently not the place to hope for that. It seemed every few steps they took were enough of a disturbance to bring a few waves of guls or grubs or those nasty fuckers Tekéhu was pretty sure were called rotghasts.

This particular encounter--which stated when Xoti tripped over a corpse and something jangled free of its tattered ensemble--was on wave three of decaying attackers and Tavi was starting to get tired.

She slashed a gul across the chest. Spun and punched another square in the face. Heeded Tekéhu’s warning cry of ‘ _Duck!_ ’ as a watery tentacle shot over her shoulder to strangle the gul in question. Dodged again as she heard the crackle of whatever Aloth was summoning behind her. Her timing was perfect; a trio of magic missiles slammed into an approaching rotghast as soon as she was out of the way. The rotghast reeled, then let out an angry shriek.

“Think you made it mad!” Tavi sing-songed, half teasing and half warning as she tried to stay between the monster and Aloth without slipping.

She missed whatever he way have replied as one of the guls charged her in a frenzy and knocked her down. Her sabres hit the ground and clattered away roughly the same moment the gul’s nails dug into her bicep.

_Fuckin’ Hel, I hate this place_. She swore--loudly--and punched it in the head, then pulled one leg up and kicked it in the stomach, digging deep for enough power to dislodge it. The gul tumbled off, stunned, and she silently thanked Zahua for the pointers.

Edér offered her a hand up in the brief second he had between guls that needed decapitating and Tavi accepted.

Once she was back on her feet, sabres in hand, she zeroed in on the rotghast, determined not to let it close to anyone. Especially considering it seemed intent on getting to Aloth. Watching skin slough off from where his spell had hit, Tavi supposed that made sense. Still, it was going after _Aloth_ , so she all but lunged across the space separating them.

Not that it really mattered; even a solitary rotghast was enough to hold off the two of them. And there were still guls to worry about, even though Edér, Xoti, and Tekéhu were doing their best to hold them back. The rotghast lashed out at Tavi with one arm, and she retaliated with her off-hand sabre as she dodged closer to Aloth. The blade bit deep into decaying flesh and it shrieked, yanking the limb.back.

“Are you alright?” Aloth asked as she joined him, shoulder to shoulder.

“Just a scratch,” Tavi scoffed, glancing at her bleeding arm. “I’ve had way blazin’ worse an’ you know it-” They both ducked another heavy handed swipe and she scowled. “This thing’s startin’ to piss me off...”

“Only starting?” Aloth said with a dry chuckle. He glanced briefly at his grimoire and started casting another spell. It was one Tavi recognized, so she knew he wasn’t more than halfway through when she yanked him sideways as the rotghast took another swipe.

“Want me to make some breathin’ room?” Tavi asked, stepping forward to be etween him and the rotting monstrosity again.

“No need,” he muttered. He secured his sceptre to his belt and reached for his rapier instead. “Though if you’d like to help...”

_No shit I wanna help._ Tavi kept it to herself as they split to attack the rotghast from opposite sides, divide its attention. Hopefully she could keep more of it. Sure, it had been a few years since she’d seen Aloth(time enough for things to change) and he’d been decent with a blade even then, but melee was _her_ specialty. She didn’t want him getting hurt. Decent was good for _emergencies,_ not taking risks.

As they closed in on the rotghast, Aloth muttered something she didn’t catch. A wall of flame sprung up behind them, making the remaining guls shriek, and she grinned to herself. Clearly she wasn’t the only one to learn new tricks while they were apart.

Underscoring that thought, Aloth sidestepped, avoiding the rotghast’s next blow, and slashed open its side. He used the momentum from that blow to fuel a second, and then slammed his grimoire into it for good measure.

It was all Tavi could do to keep her jaw from hitting the slime-slicked floor. Aside from how much of a mother _fucking_ turn-on it was, she knew that move. Shit, she _used_ that move. All the time. And, alright, she did it with two blades rather than one and a grimoire, but she knew where he’d learned to do that. Hence her ear to ear smug grin as she finished off the rotghast.

“That enough breathin’ room for ya?” she teased.

Aloth chuckled, slightly breathless. “It would be, but I appear to no longer need it.”

He was right; Xoti and Edér were just finishing off the last of the guls, Tekéhu keeping watch for more. When several seconds passed with no sign of a fresh wave, the five of them finally relaxed.

“Everybody alright?” Tavi asked as she caught her breath. With the wall of flame gone the lighting down here was shit, so she’d have to take their word.

“Few bruises, but nothin’ that’ll slow me down,” Xoti said cheerfully, and Edér and Tekéhu echoed that sentiment.

“You’re the only one with anything serious, Tavi,” Aloth chipped in, ruining her plan to tough it out. He knew it too, from the glimmer in his eyes when she turned to glare at him.

“You’re hurt, Watcher?” Xoti words dripped with concern as she hurried to where the elves stood.

Tavi held up a hand, still favoring Aloth with a narrowed stare. “It’s not nearly as bad as our resident worrywart makes it sound.”

“Tavi, a gul scratched you hard enough to _break skin_.” To emphasize his point, Aloth leaned over and wiped trickling blood off her arm. “Do you really want an open wound down here, of all places?”

No, she didn’t. “Fine. Someone take care of it, but quick. I don’t wanna be down here any longer than we fuckin’ hafta.”

“Lemme see,” Edér said, sheathing his sword. He grinned and shrugged when Tavi raised an eyebrow in silent inquiry. “Charity’s rubbed off on me _some_ , Tav.”

“She’s done more than ‘ _rub off on’_ you,” Tavi joked, plunking down on a relatively slime-free chunk of masonry to let him look at her arm.

Edér wrinkled his nose at the friendly needling and flicked away the ruined leather of her pauldron. “You leave the missus outta this. She ain’t here to defend herself.” He smirked as he gingerly pushed up her sleeve. “Fun as that would be to watch...”

Tavi laughed a concession, then turned her attention to Aloth as Edér took care of her arm. “So, city slicker, what happened to trusting spells over a blade?”

Aloth gave a half-shrug and picked at a hangnail. “It’s still true, for the most part. There are... occasions where spells are less efficient--or less _wise_ \--than a blade. Given how often I encountered said occasions in my current pursuit, I figured it was in my best interest-”

“To copy my style?” Tavi finished for him, a wince briefly interrupting her grin as Edér finished cleaning the scratches. “I’m flattered, Corfiser.”

He shot her a grin of his own. “Well, I had plenty of opportunity to see it in action, it seemed the thing to do.”

Tavi pursed her lips, briefly weighing whether that had been a gentle dig at her propensity for getting in fights or a sly hint about him watching her fight. His grin pointed to either, and if she took too much longer to answer it would be clear his intent. “So, am I gonna have to adjust to you having a new fighting style now? ‘Cause if I hafta relearn how to fight alongside you, city slicker, it’s gonna be a pain in the ass.” Edér finished with her arm and she nodded thanks to him as she stood. “Worth it, don’t get me wrong, but a pain in the ass.”

“No, no, now that I’m with you again, I’ll let you handle that. Unless necessary.”

Tavi rolled her shoulder, testing her arm to find range of motion with it bandaged up. “Well, just.... put a real high ceiling on ‘necessary’ and even when it is, don’t be too reckless, yeah? That’s my job, an’ I don’t wanna watch you get hurt  ‘cause you’re tryin’ to do something less familiar. Especially if you’re doin’ it to save my ass.”

Aloth raised an eyebrow. “Awful protective of you.”

She snorted. “When have I not been, where you’re concerned? What sort of circumstances were you in that sword fighting looked appealing in the first place?”

He caught her very unsubtle look at the scar on his forehead and shook his head. “Not that. But there were a few times I found myself fighting in close enough quarters any spell I used ran the risk of harming _me_ as much as my opponents.” He cocked his head. “Any particular reason for your intense curiosity on the subject, Tavi? Or did Edér get a similar interrogation on his new, more... subtle style as well?”

“That’s different.” Tavi raked hair out of her face as they all resumed walking. “First of all, I ain’t in love with him, so I worry a damn sight less. Second, I live--will, liv _ed_ \--a day away from him. I got to watch and spar against the gradual workin’ in of the rogue-ish, fighting from the shadows shit.” She grinned and elbowed Edér in the ribs. “Plus I know it started ‘cause his wife said the word ‘ _Please be more careful, darlin’_ ,’ when we narrowly avoided gettin’ our asses handed to us by a gang of fuckin’ bandits. Which is a story for another time,” she added hastily when Aloth opened his mouth.

“Perhaps around the same time you tell me when you learned to fight like a monk?” he hinted instead. 

“Oh, that. Shit, city slicker, that’s nothin’ special,” she laughed. “Zahua visited a couple times, an’ since he knows I have a habit of chargin’ headlong into fights, an’ that half the time that means my weapons get knocked outta my hands, he helped me... refine usin’ my hands as weapons. I already know how to throw a punch, he just taught me how to throw a harder one.”

Aloth chuckled as they cautiously made their way down a muddy slope. “Well, from what I’ve seen, it’s served you well.”

“It has,” she nodded, steadying herself against his shoulder at the bottom of the slope. “An’ I didn’t mean to sound _upset_ about you gettin’ better with a blade. I just want you around for a good long while, an’ wadin’ into the fray doesn’t help with that.”

Another chuckle. “Says the woman whose fighting style is entirely predicated on wading into the fray.”

Tavi shrugged and shot him an impish grin as they headed further into the ruined city. “Someone’s gotta make sure you have breathin’ room.”

“You are quite good at that,” Aloth said with a smile. “Must be all the practice.”

Just for that, Tavi very deliberately crowded his space and bumped her shoulder against his. “Only in combat, city slicker.”

**Author's Note:**

> There were multiple options to pick from in Tavi’s canon--I multiclassed her into Brawler, Aloth into Spellblade, and Edér’s actually a rogue now. :D Couldn’t decide which one I wanted to focus on, and then the set-up took longer than I thought it would, so I decided to hint at all three.


End file.
